1. Field of the Invention
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to battery packs.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Secondary batteries may be charged or discharged, unlike primary batteries that may not be charged. Therefore, the secondary batteries, are widely used in the field of compact, up-to-date electronic equipment such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and laptop computers and also energy storage systems.
Depending on the type of external electronic devices, rechargeable batteries may be used in the form of a single battery or in the form of a plurality of electrically connected batteries. For example, small-sized devices such as mobile phones can operate for a prescribed period of time with power and capacity of one battery. However, medium-sized or large-sized devices such as notebook computers, portable digital video discs (DVDs), and mini personal computers (PCs) require the use of a plurality of batteries due to the need of large capacity and large amounts of power.
The medium-sized or large-sized devices may use a battery pack in which a protection circuit is connected to a plurality of batteries which are connected in series and/or in parallel with each other. In order to provide enough power and capacity when manufacturing the battery pack, the electrical connection between the batteries should be stably achieved. Since there is increasing demand for miniaturized and compact electronic devices, battery packs included in the electronic devices are required to become more compact and miniaturized.